Kimberley Strassel: The attorney general gets attacked because his probe endangers many powerful people…. Rep. Steve Cohen on CNN: We are expecting to arrest and Jail attorney general Barr

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via WSJ: These attacks aren’t about special counsel Robert Mueller, his report or even the surreal debate over Mr. Barr’s first letter describing the report. The attorney general delivered the transparency Democrats demanded: He quickly released a lightly redacted report, which portrayed the president in a negative light. What do Democrats have to object to? … Read more

Market outlook: when will the stock market’s rally stop?

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by Troy The stock market managed to squeak out some additional gains this week, and the S&P is now up 15 of the past 19 weeks. A lot of traders are probably wondering “when will the stock market’s rally end?” The economy’s fundamentals determine the stock market’s medium-long term outlook. Technicals determine the stock market’s short-medium term … Read more

Lynette Zang: The Rise Of The Insolvent Zombie Firms

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by Lynette Zang of ITM Trading One look at global financial plumbing (which we do in Part 2 of this series) verifies that, short-term debt provided by private corporations is providing the propellent for emerging market and developing country economies. This debt is based on collateral that is vulnerable to runs. Because of the 2008 stock market crash, … Read more

The Fed Is Paralyzed By Mixed Messages

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BY JOHN RUBINO  The Fed tightens and stocks tank. The Fed promises to stop tightening and stocks soar. The Fed implies that it might actually cut rates and stocks soar some more. The Fed appears to take back the rate cut promise and the markets turn choppy. It’s been a wild ride. But during the past … Read more

CULTUREAnimation: The Earnings of the Biggest Movie Franchises Over the Last 20 Years

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by visualcapitalist https://vimeo.com/334166680 From Iron Man to Luke Skywalker, viewers love watching their favorite heroes triumph over evil time and time again. These successful movie franchises have won our hearts, and padded film studios’ wallets in the process. Today’s animation comes from Reddit user /u/rebellious_scum and it charts North American box office sales for select movie franchises, as … Read more

In 1996, a federal welfare reform prohibited convicted drug felons from ever obtaining food stamps.

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The increase is driven by financially motivated crimes, suggesting that ex-convicts returned to crime to make up for the lost transfer income. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257%2Fpol.20170490 R.I.P. Michael Ruppert. Flooded drugs into their community. Killed or assassinated their role models. Broke up their families through backhanded policies. Subjected to stacked odds from the very beginning and a private … Read more